The invention described and claimed herein relates generally to load binding systems for cargo vehicles, and in particular, cargo vehicles with flat beds used in the trucking and cargo carrying industries. Truckers commonly use several spaced apart ropes or straps strung across the load to secure loads to a flat bed vehicle. These ropes or straps are then individually tightened by a human operator using a series of knots, trucker's hitches or "come-along" tightening devices. This can be a very time consuming operation because it requires the operator to individually tie the ropes or straps on both sides of his truck. These methods cause the load to shift precariously due to the unequal tension applied by having the ropes or straps initially secured to only one side. This is especially a problem for high profile loads consisting of numerous stacked items. Unsecured ropes or straps may spring loose while the vehicle is underway which also imperils other vehicles on the roadway.
Also, once the cargo needs to be unloaded, additional time is lost because each of the knots or tightening devices must be individually released to remove the cargo. Other systems that use chains, complex levers and locks may also loosen an unacceptable amount while the vehicle is underway because of unsecured cargo.